Actions for selected content:

Send content to

To send content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about sending content to .

To send content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about sending to your Kindle.

Note you can select to send to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be sent to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep articles for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services
Please confirm that you accept the terms of use.

Background: CNS innate immune cells, microglia and macrophages (MMs), are the largest component of the inflammatory infiltrate in glioblastoma (GBM). They initially participate in tumor surveillance, but are co-opted by GBM to further angiogenesis and invasion. There are no effective immunotherapies against GBM in part because GBM-associated MMs are not well understood. We hypothesized that the extent and inflammatory phenotype of MM infiltration into GBM is variable between patients. This variability could have important implications on immunotherapy selection and treatment outcomes. Methods: Using automated quantitation of fluorescently labeled human GBMs, flow cytometry/live cell sorting, collection of conditioned GBM-associated MM media, and corroboration with TCGA and previously published scRNA-seq data, we have uncovered there is surprisingly marked variation in the amount of MM infiltration between tumors. Results: MM infiltration can range from almost non-existent, to comprising ~70% of GBM cells. By detecting cell surface markers and secreted cytokines, we determined that a mixture of pro- and anti-inflammatory MMs are found in each tumor. The overall inflammatory phenotype did not depend on the amount of infiltration. Interestingly, IDH-mutant GBM-associated MMs are more pro-inflammatory and less heterogeneous than IDH-wildtype GBMs. Conclusions: Taken together, the highly variable immunologic status of GBMs suggests the success of immunotherapies hinges on selecting appropriately vulnerable tumors.

A new mineral species, fluorlamprophyllite (IMA2013-102), ideally Na3(SrNa)Ti3(Si2O7)2O2F2, has been found in the Poços de Caldas alkaline massif, Morro do Serrote, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Alternatively, the idealized chemical formula could be written as (SrNa)[(Na3Ti)F2][Ti2(Si2O7)2O2], setting the large interlayer cations before the cations of the layer. Fluorlamprophyllite is the F-analogue of lamprophyllite. It is associated with aegirine, analcime, natrolite, nepheline and microcline. Fluorlamprophyllite crystals are brownish-orange and bladed. The mineral is transparent with a pale yellow streak and an adamantine lustre. It is brittle and has a Mohs hardness of ~3; cleavage is perfect on {100} and no parting was observed. The calculated density is 3.484 g/cm3. Optically, fluorlamprophyllite is biaxial (+), with α = 1.735(7), β = 1.749(7) and γ = 1.775(9) and 2Vmeas = 72(3)°. An electron microprobe analysis produced an average composition (wt.%) (9 points) of Na2O 10.63(30), K2O 0.47(3), SiO2 30.51(13), SrO 18.30(24), MgO 0.81(17), Al2O3 0.23(2), CaO 1.11(7), MnO 5.03(38), TiO2 27.41(87), Fe2O3 2.45(37), F 2.86(23), plus H2O 1.00 (added to bring the total close to 100%), –O = F –1.20, with the total = 98.61%. The elements Nb and Ba were sought, but contents were below microprobe detection limits. The resultant chemical formula was calculated on the basis of 18 (O + F) atoms per formula unit. The addition of 1.00 wt.% H2O brought [F+(OH)] = 2 pfu, yielding (Na2.63Sr1.35Mn0.54Ca0.15Mg0.15K0.08)Σ4.90(Ti2.63Fe0.24Al0.04)Σ2.91Si3.89O16[F1.15(OH)0.85]Σ2.00. The mineral is monoclinic, with space group C2/m and unit-cell parameters a = 19.255(2), b = 7.0715(7), c = 5.3807(6) Å, β = 96.794(2)° and V = 727.5(1) Å3. The structure is a layered silicate inasmuch as the O atoms are arranged in well-defined, though not necessarily close-packed layers.

The pathogenesis of complex visual hallucination in patients without visual lesions, appearing with eyes open and resolving with eyes closed, has been described to be associated with increased excitation at the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and pulvinar of the thalamus (Winton-Brown, 2016). This reduces thefidelity of retinogeniculate transmissions and enhances aberrant projections to the visual cortex. Loss of the central sensory filtering function of the pulvinar increases “signal to noise ratio” in visual transmission. While visual hallucinations have been reported to disappear on eye closure (Manford, 1998), visual aberration with correction with refractionfollowed by focusing on actual visual images and visual hallucinations has not heretofore been reported. Such a case is presented.

Method

Case study: This 28-year-old, myopic, right-handed man, at 5 years of age began hallucinating vivid images of people. The visual hallucinations were triggered only with his eye open. He was myopic and without visual correction, his visual sphere would be blurred. The visual hallucinations were also blurred without visual correction. With refraction, the hallucinations became clearly in focus. He would close his eyes and the visual hallucinations disappeared but would reappear in the same position upon opening his eyes. For over 20 years, he experienced about 100 hallucinations a day. Electroencephalography (EEG) revealed continuous spikes and slow waves in bilateral temporal lobes, consistent with temporal lobe status epilepticus. After treatment with diphenylhydantoin the frequency and duration of the hallucinations markedly decreased to a second epoch every other day. However, the characteristic of the hallucinations remained the same (people).

Results

This phenomenon may involve epilepsy induced excitation of the thalamus. This then acts to reduce the fidelity of retinogeniculate transmission and increase “signal to noise ratio” in visual transmission. This may contribute to complex visual hallucinations with eyes open. The hallucinated figures becoming clearer with eyeglasses provides support that this complex hallucination arises in the pathway from retina-LGN-cortex, not from stored visual associated cortex of top-down cortical release.

Conclusions

Given the above, those with visual hallucinations should be queried as to the influence of refraction on the clarity of hallucination.

The discovery of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave signal has generated follow-up observations by over 50 facilities world-wide, ushering in the new era of multi-messenger astronomy. In this paper, we present follow-up observations of the gravitational wave event GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart SSS17a/DLT17ck (IAU label AT2017gfo) by 14 Australian telescopes and partner observatories as part of Australian-based and Australian-led research programs. We report early- to late-time multi-wavelength observations, including optical imaging and spectroscopy, mid-infrared imaging, radio imaging, and searches for fast radio bursts. Our optical spectra reveal that the transient source emission cooled from approximately 6 400 K to 2 100 K over a 7-d period and produced no significant optical emission lines. The spectral profiles, cooling rate, and photometric light curves are consistent with the expected outburst and subsequent processes of a binary neutron star merger. Star formation in the host galaxy probably ceased at least a Gyr ago, although there is evidence for a galaxy merger. Binary pulsars with short (100 Myr) decay times are therefore unlikely progenitors, but pulsars like PSR B1534+12 with its 2.7 Gyr coalescence time could produce such a merger. The displacement (~2.2 kpc) of the binary star system from the centre of the main galaxy is not unusual for stars in the host galaxy or stars originating in the merging galaxy, and therefore any constraints on the kick velocity imparted to the progenitor are poor.

The Hubble Source Catalog (HSC) combines lists of sources detected on images obtained with the WFPC2, ACS and WFC3 instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and now available in the Hubble Legacy Archive. The catalogue contains time-domain information for about two million of its sources detected using the same instrument and filter on at least five HST visits. The Hubble Catalog of Variables (HCV) aims to identify HSC sources showing significant brightness variations. A magnitude-dependent threshold in the median absolute deviation of photometric measurements (an outlier-resistant measure of light-curve scatter) is adopted as the variability detection statistic. It is supplemented with a cut in χred2 that removes sources with large photometric errors. A pre-processing procedure involving bad image identification, outlier rejection and computation of local magnitude zero-point corrections is applied to the HSC light-curves before computing the variability detection statistics. About 52 000 HSC sources have been identified as candidate variables, among which 7,800 show variability in more than one filter. Visual inspection suggests that ∼70% of the candidates detected in multiple filters are true variables, while the remaining ∼30% are sources with aperture photometry corrupted by blending, imaging artefacts or image processing anomalies. The candidate variables have AB magnitudes in the range 15–27m, with a median of 22m. Among them are the stars in our own and nearby galaxies, and active galactic nuclei.

Hydroxycalciomicrolite, Ca1.5Ta2O6(OH) is a
new microlite-group mineral found in the Volta Grande pegmatite, Nazareno,
Minas Gerais, Brazil. It occurs as isolated octahedral and as a combination
of octahedral and rhombic dodecahedral crystals, up to1.5 mm in size. The
crystals are yellow and translucent, with a white streak and vitreous to
resinous lustre. The mineral is brittle, with a Mohs hardness of 5–6.
Cleavage is not observed and fracture is conchoidal. The calculated density
is 6.176 g cm–3. Hydroxycalciomicroliteis isotropic,
ncalc. = 2.010. The infrared and Raman spectra exhibit bands due
to O–H stretching vibrations. The chemical composition determined from
electron microprobe analysis (n = 13) is (wt.%):
Na2O 0.36(8), CaO 15.64(13), SnO2
0.26(3),Nb2O5 2.82(30), Ta2O5
78.39(22), MnO 0.12(2), F 0.72(12) and H2O 1.30 (from the crystal
structure data), O = F –0.30, total 99.31(32), yielding an empirical
formula,
(Ca1.48Na0.06Mn0.01)∑1.55(Ta1.88Nb0.11Sn0.01)∑2.00O6.00[(OH)0.76F0.20O0.04].Hydroxycalciomicrolite
is cubic, with unit-cell parameters a = 10.4205(1) Å,
V = 1131.53(2) Å3 and Z = 8.
It represents a pyrochlore supergroup, microlite-group mineral exhibiting
P4332 symmetry, instead of
Fd3m. Thereduction in symmetry is due
to long-range ordering of Ca and vacancies on the A sites.
This is the first example of such ordering in a natural pyrochlore, although
it is known from synthetic compounds. This result is promising because it
suggests that other species with P4332or
lower-symmetry space group can be discovered and characterized.

DSM-5 proposes an Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome (APS) for further investigation, based upon the Attenuated Positive Symptom Syndrome (APSS) in the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS). SIPS Unusual Thought Content, Disorganized Communication and Total Disorganization scores predicted progression to psychosis in a 2015 NAPLS-2 Consortium report. We sought to independently replicate this in a large single-site high-risk cohort, and identify baseline demographic and clinical predictors beyond current APS/APSS criteria.

Method

We prospectively studied 200 participants meeting criteria for both the SIPS APSS and DSM-5 APS. SIPS scores, demographics, family history of psychosis, DSM Axis-I diagnoses, schizotypy, and social and role functioning were assessed at baseline, with follow-up every 3 months for 2 years.

Results

The conversion rate was 30% (n = 60), or 37.7% excluding participants who were followed under 2 years. This rate was stable across time. Conversion time averaged 7.97 months for 60% who developed schizophrenia and 15.68 for other psychoses. Mean conversion age was 20.3 for males and 23.5 for females. Attenuated odd ideas and thought disorder appear to be the positive symptoms which best predict psychosis in a logistic regression. Total negative symptom score, Asian/Pacific Islander and Black/African-American race were also predictive. As no Axis-I diagnosis or schizotypy predicted conversion, the APS is supported as a distinct syndrome. In addition, cannabis use disorder did not increase risk of conversion to psychosis.

Conclusions

NAPLS SIPS findings were replicated while controlling for clinical and demographic factors, strongly supporting the validity of the SIPS APSS and DSM-5 APS diagnosis.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and initial accomplishments of a training program of young leaders in community mental health research as part of a Latin American initiative known as RedeAmericas. RedeAmericas was one of five regional ‘Hubs’ funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to improve community mental health care and build mental health research capacity in low- and middle-income countries. It included investigators in six Latin American cities – Santiago, Chile; Medellín, Colombia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Córdoba, Neuquén, and Buenos Aires in Argentina – working together with a team affiliated with the Global Mental Health program at Columbia University in New York City. One component of RedeAmericas was a capacity-building effort that included an Awardee program for early career researchers in the mental health field. We review the aims of this component, how it developed, and what was learned that would be useful for future capacity-building efforts, and also comment on future prospects for maintaining this type of effort.

The Antarctic Roadmap Challenges (ARC) project identified critical requirements to deliver high priority Antarctic research in the 21st century. The ARC project addressed the challenges of enabling technologies, facilitating access, providing logistics and infrastructure, and capitalizing on international co-operation. Technological requirements include: i) innovative automated in situ observing systems, sensors and interoperable platforms (including power demands), ii) realistic and holistic numerical models, iii) enhanced remote sensing and sensors, iv) expanded sample collection and retrieval technologies, and v) greater cyber-infrastructure to process ‘big data’ collection, transmission and analyses while promoting data accessibility. These technologies must be widely available, performance and reliability must be improved and technologies used elsewhere must be applied to the Antarctic. Considerable Antarctic research is field-based, making access to vital geographical targets essential. Future research will require continent- and ocean-wide environmentally responsible access to coastal and interior Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Year-round access is indispensable. The cost of future Antarctic science is great but there are opportunities for all to participate commensurate with national resources, expertise and interests. The scope of future Antarctic research will necessitate enhanced and inventive interdisciplinary and international collaborations. The full promise of Antarctic science will only be realized if nations act together.

Sparganosis is one of the top three tissue-dwelling heterologous helminthic diseases, along with cysticercosis and paragonimiasis, in Korea. Due to a lack of effective early diagnosis and treatment methods, this parasitic disease is regarded as a public health threat. This study evaluated reactivity, against sparganum extracts, of sera from inhabitants of Cheorwon-gun, Goseong-gun and Ongjin-gun in Korea. The sera from 836 subjects were subjected to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblot analysis. The sera from 18 (5.8%) and 15 (5.1%) inhabitants in Cheorwon-gun (n = 312) and Goseong-gun (n = 294), respectively, exhibited highly positive reactions to the sparganum antigen, whereas only two (0.9%) inhabitants in Ongjin-gun (n = 230) showed positivity. We sought antigenic proteins for serodiagnosis of positive sera by immunoproteomic approaches. Total sparganum lysates were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis and then subjected to immunoblot analysis with mixed sparganosis-positive sera. We found seven antigenic spots and identified paramyosin as an antigenic protein by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. By two-dimensional (2D)-based mass analysis and immunoblotting against sparganosis-positive sera, paramyosin was identified as a candidate antigen for serodiagnosis of sparganosis.

Schizophrenia patients have a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) than normals. We examined the relationship between IGT and clinical phenotypes or cognitive deficits in first-episode, drug-naïve (FEDN) Han Chinese patients with schizophrenia.

Method

A total of 175 in-patients were compared with 31 healthy controls on anthropometric measures and fasting plasma levels of glucose, insulin and lipids. They were also compared using a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test and the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Neurocognitive functioning was assessed using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). Patient psychopathology was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).

Results

Of the patients, 24.5% had IGT compared with none of the controls, and they also had significantly higher levels of fasting blood glucose and 2-h glucose after an oral glucose load, and were more insulin resistant. Compared with those patients with normal glucose tolerance, the IGT patients were older, had a later age of onset, higher waist or hip circumference and body mass index, higher levels of low-density lipoprotein and triglycerides and higher insulin resistance. Furthermore, IGT patients had higher PANSS total and negative symptom subscale scores, but no greater cognitive impairment except on the emotional intelligence index of the MCCB.

Conclusions

IGT occurs with greater frequency in FEDN schizophrenia, and shows association with demographic and anthropometric parameters, as well as with clinical symptoms but minimally with cognitive impairment during the early course of the disorder.

A small fraction of Tidal Disruption Events (TDE) produce relativistic jets, evidenced by their non-thermal X-ray spectra and transient radio emission. Here we present milliarcsecond-resolution imaging results on TDE J1644+5734 with the European VLBI Network (EVN). These provide a strong astrometric constraint on the average apparent jet velocity βapp < 0.27, that constrains the intrinsic jet velocity for a given viewing angle.

This is a preliminary report on the joint research project between 3 observatories: Beijing, Yunnan, and Behlen Observatories from China and the United States. The systems we have been dealing with are primary of late spectral types and with short periods. Most.of the observations were secured from the observatories in China. The computational analysis is carried out in University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The photometric solutions are based on the Wilson and Devinney method. Out of 11 systems analyzed 6 of them: AO Cam. ER Ori. BX Peg, BB Peg, U Peg, and SW Lac are found to be contact systems. All of them are having their primary eclipses at occultation. Therefore they can be classified as W-type WUMa systems. They also show other W-type characteristics.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of maternal gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and breast feeding on childhood overweight and obesity in a mainland Chinese population. The incidence of and factors associated with overweight and obesity were compared between children of mothers with (n=1068) and without (n=1756) GDM. The independent roles of the associated factors were examined by multiple logistic regression analysis. The incidence of overweight was higher (16.6 v. 12.6%, P=0.002) in the GDM group, but that of obesity was not different (10.7 v. 12.0%, P=0.315). At age 1–2 and 2–5 years, no difference in overweight (11.0 v. 12.0%, P=0.917, and 15.7 v. 14.6%, P=0.693, respectively) was found, while obesity (8.0 v. 13.6%, P=0.019, and 8.4 v. 13.4%, P=0.014, respectively) was less frequent in the GDM offspring. At age 5–10 years, increased overweight (22.2 v. 12.1%, P<0.001) and obesity (15.9 v. 9.0%, P=0.001) were found in the GDM group, which was associated with maternal obesity, being born large-for-gestational age, male gender and formula feeding. After adjusting for confounding factors, GDM remained an independent determinant of offspring overweight and obesity (aOR 2.28, 95% CI 1.61–3.22), suggesting that the effects of GDM were independent of breast feeding, as well as of maternal obesity and birth size.